I’ve written about the perimenopause stage before in my past blog posts as being the stage before menopause. While it can affect many aspects of your physical and mental health, another big one is its impact on the largest organ of your body- your skin. As your hormone levels start to go down, your skin will start to experience some unfortunate changes. However, the skin changes are common during this phase of life, and there are ways to support healthier skin. Let’s look at some of the common skin changes during perimenopause and how you can adjust your skin care regimen with these changes.
What Happens to Your Skin During Perimenopause?
When you start to undergo the stage of perimenopause, your skin starts to become affected, too. This is because your estrogen levels start to naturally decline. Estrogen helps in keeping the collagen and firmness of your skin intact. It also plays a role in keeping it hydrated. Your estrogen levels declining could cause your skin to experience dryness, thinning, loss of its elasticity, uneven tone and pigmentation, and slow wound healing. Adult acne could also flare up during the perimenopause stage. Depending on your hormone fluctuations, these changes could become sudden or gradual. Progesterone levels also start to change.
Common Skin Changes During Perimenopause
Of course, it’s important to be aware of your physical changes. You should be able to recognize these new skin problems and know how to alleviate them. Let’s learn deeply about how a dip in our hormone levels can bring about skin problems and how you could treat them.
Itchy Skin
Dryness and changes in the skin barrier are part of the perimenopause skin changes. This could lead to itchy skin. Also, reduced oil production in your skin leads to dry, itchy skin. Release of histamine in the skin and irritation of skin nerves could also play a role in itchy skin. If you’ve been experiencing unnaturally persistent itchy skin, you must consult a healthcare professional soon.
Increased Skin Sensitivity
Of course, when your skin is dry and itchy, this could increase its sensitivity level. Around 50, the pH level of our skin changes. This could lead to your skin developing more rashes and becoming easily irritated. Some women also develop redness and flushing. It could be your everyday skin products possibly causing this. As you get older, your skin may start to become more sensitive to your skincare ingredients.
Adult or Hormonal Acne
Another common skin change to know is adult acne. Yes, acne doesn’t end once you’re no longer a teenager. Your skin could break out in your 40s and 50s. It’s still unclear why these flare-ups happen during perimenopause and menopause. Also, hot flashes could worsen skin redness, causing skin issues such as rosacea.
Dry or Dehydrated Skin
If you start seeing your skin as flaky, dry, or tight, it’s due to hormonal changes in perimenopause. Your skin starts to lose its ability to retain moisture because of changes in the skin barrier and reduced production of natural moisturizing factors. Menopause can alter the ceramide composition in your skin’s outer layer, leading to dehydrated skin. Without the substances of natural hyaluronic acid, sebum, ceramides, and collagen, water starts to evaporate very easily in your skin, making it become very dry, itchy, and scaly.
How to Care for Your Skin During Perimenopause
Because of these changes, your skin isn’t going to react as well as it has with the same products you’ve been using for years. You may have to make some adjustments to your skincare routine. Here are some ways you can care for your skin during the perimenopause stage.
Build a Gentle Skincare Routine
If you’re starting to have sensitive skin since you started perimenopause, try optimizing your skincare routine. Choose a milder, unscented cleanser formulated for sensitive skin. Soap can be too drying for mature skin. So pick a gentle, non-foaming cleanser. Also avoid over-exfoliating your skin. Be sure to choose other skincare products that are fragrance-free, such as toners, moisturizers, and serums, too.
Prioritize Hydration
When choosing a moisturizer, make sure that it is one suitable for your skin type. Find ingredients that prioritize hydration to keep your skin from being dry and itchy. Be sure to apply moisturizer after bathing and throughout the day when your skin feels dry. Consider opting for a moisturizer with hyaluronic acid or glycerin.
Protect Your Skin From the Sun
Another big tip is to protect it from the sun by applying a broad-spectrum sunscreen of at least SPF 30 every day to the face, neck, chest, and back of the hands. Applying sunscreen every day will prevent your skin from pigmentation and premature aging. It could also prevent you from being at risk of skin cancer. Be sure to reapply after swimming.
Choose Skincare Ingredients Carefully
The older you get, the more it’s important to be aware of which skin product ingredients can break you out. For example, you might’ve been able to use products that were lightly scented. But now that your body is changing, you may be allergic to the ingredients. That’s why it’s important when you’re in the perimenopause stage to examine the ingredients of a product before purchasing it. Some ingredients in skincare products that are said to be beneficial for women in this stage are hyaluronic acid, ceramides, Vitamin C, and retinoids or retinol, when appropriate.
Supporting Your Skin Through Perimenopause & Beyond
So besides your mood, your skin could likely change during perimenopause. However, you can manage the changes in your skin during this phase of your life. Consider implementing a simple, consistent skincare routine that you can stick to instead of adding too many products. If you start to see some persistent, unusual changes, seek help from a medical professional immediately. As you get older, continue to nourish your skin with the right products it deserves instead of fighting the aging process.
If you’re going through the perimenopause stage, how do you cope with changes to your skin? Feel free to share how your skin care regimen has changed in the comments below. As always, be sure to share this post with the next strong woman you know.
